There are more articles exploring the shift in the American religious landscape over the last 50+ years than I care to attempt to count. For those seeking to lead well and hoping to shape what's yet to come, understanding these changes is essential. Added to Endangered Species List Earlier this month, sociologist Ryan Burge tweeted, "White liberal Christians are an endangered species." In support of that claim he provided the graphic below and the following data points: So Read More …
Protestant
Am I Living in the Most Protestant Place in America? (#2068)
Dallas - Arlington - Fort Worth, Texas (aka the D/FW metro area) has been my home for most of my life. Given D/FW's location, it isn't surprising that the area is more religious than the United States is on average. But, just how religious is it? And, just how Protestant? Most Religious Counties Last month sociologist Ryan Burge compiled a list of the Most Religiously Affiliated Highly Populated Counties in America as defined by the percentage of people in the county who are attached Read More …
Most Congregations Now Offer In Person Worship (#1881)
How many Protestant congregations in America are offering one or more in person worship experiences on a given weekend? A survey of American Protestant pastors conducted July 20-22, 2020 by LifeWay Research indicates that 71% of congregations provided one or more in person worship experiences on the weekend of July 19. When COVID-19 began to impact decision making about offering an in person option the percentage of congregations doing so declined steadily from 99% in early March to just 4% by Read More …
Farewell to White Protestant Texas (#1824)
Demographic shifts are happening more rapidly than many realize. In a 2014 post titled "End of the White Majority," I shared that the National Center for Education Statistics projected that after years of decline white non-Hispanic students would no longer be the majority in the public schools in the United States.In a 2016 post titled "Farewell to White Protestant America" I shared some of the findings presented by Robert P. Jones in his then recently published book: The End of White Read More …
The Largest Religion in America in 2037 (#1711)
The rise of the "nones" (those claiming no religious affiliation) has been well documented in general, and also here on this blog. Assuming the shift away from religious affiliation continues, when might the largest "religious group" in America become those without a religious affiliation? Rise of the Nones Allen Downey, Professor of Computer Science at Olin College, recently shared on his blog an extended version of an article he initially published in Scientific American Read More …
The Disappearance of Young Pastors (#1667)
Last week I saw a link to Kate Shellnutt's article, "Only 1 in 7 Pastors is Under 40" appear on my social feeds a few times before I clicked through to read it and to learn about the latest research on the topic. The research was conducted by the Barna Group and Pepperdine University. It included 14,000 pastors. Findings include: Average Age of Protestant Senior Pastors 2017: 54 1992: 44 Young Senior Pastors 2017: Only 1 in 7 is under age 40 Getting Personal This topic is of Read More …
Mainline Protestantism = Old (#1636)
Until around the year 2000 I always thought of the group of churches to which I have belonged as Mainline or Mainline Protestant. Over the last several years I have heard a variety of terms used that convey the considerable decline in membership and cultural capital. Data from the Pew Religious Landscape Study shows just how old the Mainline/Sidelined/Oldline Protestant traditions have become. Mainline Denomination Median Age Percent of Members Age Read More …
Fewer and Fewer Christians (& Even Fewer Mainline Protestants) (#1551)
In 2007 the Pew Research Center conducted their initial U.S. Religious Landscape Study. The 2014 edition, published earlier today, shows Christianity declined by 8% in America over the last seven years (78.4% to 70.6%). Allowing for the margin of error, this means the number of Christian adults in the U.S. has shrunk by somewhere between 2.8 million and 7.8 million. Decline Impacts All Christian Traditions Mainline Protestants and Catholics top the list for Read More …
From Mainline to Sideline to Oldline (#1526)
I grew up in a Mainline Protestant congregation. The congregation I was raised in belonged to one of the seven sisters of Mainline American Protestantism: the Congregational Church (now a part of the United Church of Christ), the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Church, the American Baptist Convention, and the Disciples of Christ. While my childhood congregation has remained a part of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Read More …
Changes in Christian Affiliation in Latin America (#1492)
Last week the Pew Research Center released findings from their recent survey examining religious affiliations, beliefs and practices in 18 countries and one U.S. territory (Puerto Rico) across Latin America and the Caribbean. While this region of the world is home to over 400 million Catholics (nearly 40% of the global total) and despite the popularity of the first Latin American Pope, affiliation with Catholicism is declining rapidly. Dramatic Decline From the 1900s through the Read More …